FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a device, in the form of a magazine, for supplying printing plates to a plate cylinder of a printing press, in particular for the automatic or semi-automatic changing of printing plates, with a plate-supplying apparatus.
A device of the initially mentioned kind is known from European patent application 0 435 410. The purpose of said device is to automate the changing of printing plates. The magazine holds old, used plates. For removal, the used printing plate is released from the plate cylinder at one end and is then--through appropriate rotation of the plate cylinder--partially inserted into the magazine. Subsequently, the other end of the printing plate is released by the tensioning device of the plate cylinder and the entire printing plate is introduced into the magazine with a plate-removing apparatus. Subsequently, a new printing plate to be used is taken from the magazine by means of the plate-supplying apparatus. First, one end of the printing plate is inserted into the corresponding clamping device of the plate cylinder, where it is clamped, and then--through rotation of the plate cylinder--the printing plate is removed completely from the magazine and is drawn around the outer cylindrical surface of the plate cylinder. Then, the other end of the printing plate is clamped and the plate is tensioned in the circumferential direction. The supplying of printing plates may be disrupted if, when a new printing plate is removed, at least one other of the new printing plates held in a pile in the magazine unintentionally changes its position.